The number of wounded Israeli soldiers is mounting, representing a hidden cost of war
Gaza Strip before a missile slammed into his tank, leaving him with a life-altering injury. «Already within the tank, I understood from the condition of my leg that I would lose it. But the question was how much of it will I lose,» he said, seated on a bed in the hospital where he has been treated since he was wounded last month.
Tudoran, 27, a reservist who volunteered for duty after the Oct. 7 attack on southern Israel by Hamas that triggered the war, lost his right leg beneath the hip. He has kept up a positive attitude — but concedes that his hopes of becoming an electrician may no longer be possible.
Tudoran is part of a swelling number of wounded Israeli fighters, yet another sizable and deeply traumatized segment of Israeli society whose struggles are emerging as a hidden cost of the war that will be felt acutely for years to come. Given the large numbers of wounded, advocates worry the country is not prepared to address their needs.
«I have never seen a scope like this and an intensity like this,» said Edan Kleiman, who heads the nonprofit Disabled Veterans Organization, which advocates for more than 50,000 soldiers wounded in this and earlier conflicts.
«We must rehabilitate these people,» he said.
Israel's Defense Ministry says roughly 3,000 members of the country's security forces have been wounded since Hamas militants stormed into southern Israel on Oct. 7, killing 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and taking 240 people hostage.
Nearly 900 of those are soldiers wounded since Israel began its ground offensive in late October, in which troops have engaged in close combat with Hamas militants. More than 160 soldiers have been killed since the ground operation began.
«They add up,» said Yagil Levy, who
